New Career Skills 

A SCAM TO GET YOUR MONEY - PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP
I hope you read this before signing up to their bogus training - my son signed up for an Electrician course, luckily enough he met someone who had been scammed for £4k from this company. We quickly cancelled all standing orders. Don't be fooled, everything looks completely legitimate even the 'thank you for cancelling' letter makes you think you might be mistaken. Then you post the course materials on the supposedly FREEPOST address which they provide which is completely incomplete and made the counterstaff at the Post Office laugh. Please don't go anywhere near this company!

Avoid! will take you over 2 years to complete the courses.
customer services are only there to tell you "tough you have signed now"
also sales reps will lie through their teeth to get you to sign.

AVOID AVOID AVOID

NTC is nothing to do with New Career Skills. I'm on NTC course and its fine, I'm 7 months in, keep you posted.

I looking at starting an electrician trade. I looked around and a found a good collage called Options Skills. Signed up on their website, given my details and received a call and spoke to a guy on the phone called Steve and inviting me down to the college to have a look and see what they're all about. Two days later I get a phone call asking about my trade enquiry and that one of the Senior managers will be down my area and would like a talk with me at my flat. I said yes and he Came Down. it was only during a conversation with this fellow called Don, that I realised it was a different company. I've never spoken to new trade skills and I wasn't too sure how they got my information.
He told me they had 21 colleges in London, so I asked him what one was the nearest to me and eventually he told me Watford or Heathrow. I'm in Wembley and neither are anywhere near me. plus the fact that Watford Is Massive.
any company that gets its people like this through lies and manipulation should not be trusted.
also my partner said if they don't invite you to the college to sign up don't go with them. before you sign up to Any College , go to see the place first.

I do recommend ."options skills" if you want a real trade career

Wanted to learn plumbing.. decided to go to NTC for help. Bald headed guy called dave came round my house.. looked all very professional, didn’t give that much info out. But then I read the awful reviews and then did some digging.. Their not in with city and guilds they use ERR limited’s affiliated number. But they say there are nothing to do with them.. Got me abit worried so I told dave and he hasn’t contacted me since.. so don’t trust this company what so ever..

No words. Con. 7 k gone. Dod anyone get any compensation or fight them on it?
Lecturers were nice but they got scammed too

I have read a lot of comments and can confirm this is a scam.
I was scammed to.

I have the names of the people who worked there. (Management).
They will be found.
Karmas coming.

Took £6k off me and I sent all paperwork in to get nothing back! Big scam about went into administration!

This company are a big scam are joke looks all real but be warned they took my money 6 grand then went bump so lost all my money and can not get it back cos i used my saveings they reopend in same name under new management what load of bull how can u do this so be warned do not give your money to the company new career skills cos u just have it stollen from you place is joke am fuming with them so be warned its big scam

Currently trying to get through to the Watford Centre to locate my Plumbing folder I sent off just over 2 years ago now. I have resigned myself to the fact I will not get a decent qualification out of the place but would like to get my folder back as proof of the modules/ exams I did pass. There was no mention on signing up of the £900 that would need to be paid for the on the job assessment and with no employment opportunities lined up by them as they had promised I have given up all hope. As people have already said you'd be very lucky to gain enough skills/ experience for the trades they advertise out of an on off 5 week course.

Im seeing all the bad reviews on here and im not to sure why, I signed up, got a call the day after and had an apprenticeship sorted within a week, which is alot better then what my local college did/can do for me. Zed the guy I that i spoke with, helped me every step of the way, he helped me with my application, interview techniques, and everything else, cant thank him enough, I found NOW SKILLS a brill company, and would recommend it to anyone

New career skills was a joke no doubt. I'm late twenties, married, have two young children and a mortgage so the decision to switch careers was very tough. Signed up for a plumbing course, I knew the deal on how much work I had to put in as a lot of home study was required and seems too many people thought paying this vast sum would guarantee you the nvq and a job. Unfortunately 5 weeks in a centre even with good tutors isn't enough not even close. I completed the course even though halfway through NCS went into administration and ERR were more than helpful helping me finish the course. NCS were a nightmare and it's disgusting the way they went about their business. The 5 weeks was a nightmare as Southampton got shut down and I had to stay 4 nights in Watford for the last 3 weeks of the course. Not prepared to give up on my choice to change career or my money I stomached this to get the technical side done and was a relief to say the least on finishing my week 5. But to get the nvq you need to do onsites and that's where they make it financially and practically impossible. I contacted my local college who let me finish my nvq with them for a fraction of the price ERR were charging and ERR told me I needed two weeks spent in a location 200 miles from my home! I finished the course learning very little. I phoned dozens of local companies to see if I could gain the experience going out (no pay) with them, even if I was just watching how it's done in the real world. Very dis heartening giving up weekends as I have a young family but determined it would pay off in the long run. I started little jobs whilst still working in another trade and built it up to the point where I found myself working for a construction company getting more involved with plumbing work by the month. 18 months on from the course I'm now self employed and working for a plumbing company earning around the £30k mark. Going to do my gas next year and hopefully work for myself at some point . I am saying this as I've read a lot of reviews where people feel cheated and robbed (like me) but if you put in the work rate and show the determination to learn and progress employers see that. Yes the course was mis sold in plenty of ways and i would recommend anyone wanting this career change not to take this route. Nothing wrong with ERR if they didn't take over NCS I would have lost my money with no chance of finishing the course. There is so much to learn in plumbing you can't ram it into 5 weeks. Not saying these courses don't work, if your already in the industry and want the qualification so be it. If you know nothing about the trade, college or a course that gives you time to learn everything is better in my opinion, in my experience don't rush into a decision. Do your homework and research before putting thousands of pounds into it! I'm still learning everyday something new and most days are different from the last its a great trade to get into. Far from calling myself a plumber as yet but it all comes from onsite experience and I'm getting that everyday!

I wish this site was about when I originally signed up for the course.

Both me and a friend regretfully signed up for this course some years ago. We signed up around December (just before christmas) and it was clear that the salesman (as thats what they are) had pound signs in his eyes and wanted 2 sales for the price of 1 for a fat christmas bonus.

First of all he lied, stating that the course would also cover commercial electrics (which it does not). I was slightly suspicious when he kept changing the subject from Commercial electrics to something else at the end of his sentence. Unfortunately me and my friend were very keen to change careers from office based work to more practical manly jobs which have the chance of healthy overtime. Therefore we signed up out of desperation for a new career.

It was not until my practical week 3 that I found out there was no commercial element to the training. The trainer who confirmed this was very honest and even stated that they had had problems with 'salesman' overselling the brief light touch they do on 3 phase electrics and advertising this as 'commercial'. Being more practical than my friend I wrote numerous complaints (this was a time before the company recognised the Financial Ombudsman Service). They were uninterested and wrote closed responses back but I persevered and kept writing. I managed to get a meeting with the director and took county court papers along with signed witness statements (from my friend and father who were in attendance of the sales pitch). I managed to recover a chunk of costs from the £6000 I paid but it was still a huge regret.

On to the 'training' itself, whilst I do not fault the trainers knowledge / friendliness, the structure does not allow the training of competent electricians. There are way too many students per trainer and I personally witnessed times where students were performing dangerous activities, some even had slight 'pokes' of electric shocks. Also it was clear that trainers were targeted to simply turn over fully trained students (whether competent or not) and operate on a get them in and out basis.

My friend never finished the course. He doesnt have the drive that I did and paid the full £6000 but only ever attended 2 practical weeks. Whilst I acknowledge that this was his fault New Career Skills never once wrote / called to him to make sure he was ok or whether he needed any assistance as they had not heard from him. For all they knew he was struggling so much and too embarrassed to call for extra assistance.

I passed the course but, again, whilst I studied hard (through my own motivation - no help from NCS at all) I did not feel confident / competent enough to go at it alone. On my final assessment I honestly did not think there was any way I could fail and, unsurprisingly, everyone in my group passed, yet it did not take a genius to realise not everyone should have! However, the "we'll find you work" sales pitch was absolute rubbish. They said they were sending my CV out to people and I never once had a reply let alone an interview! I made complaints about this service and asked for a full list of who my CV had been sent to along with regular updates as to who its sent to and what replies they receive. Again, unsurprisingly, I received no reply.

Overall this was one of the biggest financial mistakes of my 30+ year life. I still work in an office based job and have no confidence what so ever in this company. I honestly believe that you are very lucky if you do manage to get a good experience with them (most of the students who attended with me had one form of grievance or another with them).

I strongly recommend you go elsewhere for your training as this is not the answer for anyone. However, should you decide to go with them I believe you will soon regret your decision. Whilst I note they are now in liquidation (which was completely their own doing) I understand they have been taken over and will be up and running again soon. Hopefully the managers / directors of the new company will actually possess a moral compass.

Hi guys!
My partner signed up to a plumbing course with this company and within a couple of months they went into liquidation so he couldn't book any courses etc as could never get through! He completely lost any confidence in them and basically stopped paying the monthly instalments as he only ever went on one practical day. He received a letter last week from a debt recovery company still chasing for around 7k!! New career skills dissolved at the end of feb as per companies house so I don't understand how they can still persue this debt!! Is anyone else having this problem?? We are really worried that this could effect his credit history. help!!!

My son filled out an online form at his local college enquiring about an electricians course. Shortly after he receives three separate calls from different mobile numbers arranging an "interview" at 8pm at home. I thought this strange when he told me but gave it the benefit of the doubt, wrong. A man turns up and initially asks about his background etc, he then tells me he has an assessor who is checking he is doing his job correctly and would we mind if he joins us and he will just sit and watch. I agree and 5 minutes later another man arrives and for the next 10 minutes is quiet, observing while the first guy talks. Then the second one joins in and it soon becomes a sales pitch where they are bouncing off each other. I am now getting very suspicious and ask what the company name is while picking up my laptop to check them out. The first guy straight away puts some paperwork he had out back in his folder and they try to reassure me.
I tell them they remind me of Safe Style UK and a bad sales experience I had with them once and how my son is gullible but I have been around slightly longer, well 44 years. The second guy then says " If we were like that I wouldn't have let you stay in the room". I laugh and say, it's my living room, my house. The first guy rubs his hand over his forehead because he knows they have lost this sale.
Shocking to think they are preying on young out of work people to rip them off. Please please avoid at all costs

They rub me off £6507 now unlawfully they not pay my money back it is not nice they give me alot of headeacks any one is new please dont put your money on risk dont got for training with new career skills

I found this company online, and thought it was a good idea to further my skills. I had a guy who said lived in Droitwich come to basically sell the idea to me.

He was very pushy and I felt like I didn't have much choice but still sounded quite a good investment. He began to tell me that I could do the course in Birmingham, little did I know that he was lying.

I live not far from Birmingham so I could do my course and then work evenings. After signing and completing the first lot of course work I rand to book a slot, low and behold the closest centres were 100 miles away. This led to loss of earnings at work, and £350 hotels bill, £150 food bill and £100 in fuel costs. After this I decided to cancel, the lady on the phone was good as gold (Imogen) she put the discounts on what I owed and told me they will reduce my Direct Debit to £50.

After a few months I get a phonecall stating that I have to pay full price or send in bank Statements etc. I honestly thought I know if I can afford £226 per month and £50 will be fine especially as i'm not carrying on with the course.

I decided to cancel my direct debit as the lady on the phone was extremely unhelpful and rude.

I have recently contacting them as I will be getting trading standards involved as I was mis-sold a product by an untrustworthy sales representative. (Citizens advice stated that they had broken the law by doing this and I could terminate my contract)

I hope you find this helpful but I do believe if you go with this company, you are definitely wasting your money.

I found NCS an absolute con. I was told on signing up (covering all scenarios) that if I fell pregnant then I would be able to put the course and payments on hold until after maternity. This defo was not the case when it happened.
Tried everything to get in touch and extend the course but nothing helped.
I have now been trying to contact NCS on the number they have on the only website I can now find of theirs, I have left at least 5 messages for someone to contact me. I have no spare cash and need to discuss this with an advisor but this is no go. I have no qualifications/no money/no contact so just a lot of debt to show for my want of doing this course. I trusted them, I got nothing!!!!!

In 2012 I requested information about the electricians course with NCS so a representative came to my home and pretty much pushed me into taking on the course, quote 'if you don't pay now there are slim chances of you getting on our course again,' within minutes I payed £500 up front which was more than I could afford. I have never had any contact with this company, I tried to cancel my course but the lady on the phone didn't want to know. Nearly £7000 for this course, I've heard the qualifications aren't even recognised, I was told by the representative its a city and guilds qualification which would lead me to £30,000 a year which sounded good.
Does anyone have a contact number or email address for these? I have tried there numbers but they've been cut off. And does anyone know how to cancel the course?

If you are looking to train as an electrician and then work for a company as an electrician then NCS is not for you. At best you will get a job as an improver (to begin with anyway). The main reason for this is that you need to have experience in the industry and a few more qualifications to get the grade as electrician. Check out the definitions for ‘electrician’ on page 90 of the JIB hand book for more info. If you are looking to go out in the world and be self employed as a domestic installer after completing this course then good for you, but be sure that you know what you are doing as there are plenty of areas to #uck it up. NCS do NOT cover the majority of stuff you will come across in the real world, just how to install everything new (house bashing). Do not be wooed by the sales rep banging on about being part P and a domestic installer. Go to the JIB website and read up about it first, it could save you £6000. If I had my time again, I would have chosen another way of training.